I Tracked Sea Turtles. I Tracked My Own Limits.

I spent twenty years logging numbers, weighing shells, measuring growth—pretending the data was enough. But every time I opened another rescue record, it was the same: another young turtle, tangled, starving, sometimes missing a limb. Sometimes already dead. I used to think science was about finding answers. Now it feels like counting losses. Polypropylene sacks—just trash to someone else—became the thing I dreaded most. They drift in the dark, invisible until it’s too late. I started seeing them in my sleep. We write proposals, beg for protected zones, hope someone in power cares. But the ocean keeps swallowing plastic, and I keep writing reports that feel like confessions. I wonder if anyone reads them. I wonder if I’m still helping, or just documenting the slow collapse. #Science #ScienceFatigue #ConservationDespair